The Modern American West

Updated May 17, 2008 11:59 p.m. ET

These books brilliantly evoke the modern American West, says Alexandra Fuller

1. What You See in Clear Water By Geoffrey O'Gara Knopf, 2000

This timely work sheds light on the conflict over water rights in the American West, but it also describes the history of the Arapaho and Shoshone tribes who now live on the enormous and gorgeous Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, and it explores their relations with white settlers and...